Replacing display hinge on Lenovo X61 Tablet
The hinge on my Lenovo X61 tablet started making awful noises several months ago. It finally stopped working altogether. I ordered the part from ACS for about $50 and replaced it myself using Lenovo’s training videos. The part I ordered was FRU 42W2545. It looked like a salvage part – a little scratched, but what I needed.
After Repair
Before repair
After watching the removal and assembly videos several times, the process was pretty easy:
- Remove all the A, B, and C screws from the back of the laptop.
- Remove the keyboard and palm rest – this sort of happens at the same time.
- Remove the LCD extender board – use a precision screwdriver and keep track of the screws because they are three different sizes.
- Disconnect the wires from the system board – not as bad as I expected.
- Remove the four screws holding the LCD to the base and lift up. The LCD should come off.
- Remove the nine screws holding the bezel on the LCD. Don’t forget the one in the bottom middle like I did.
- Pull the wires through the hinge and unscrew the hinge.
The whole thing took about three hours. See my gallery for a few pics of the process.
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Chandramouli, 
Wim van der Welle, 
Daniel, and 15 others are discussing. 
techgrrl 10:24 pm on August 28, 2010 Permalink |
Another piece of advice:
Test all your input devices and various hot buttons (especially those on the LCD itself) to make sure they work before repair. Otherwise, you won’t know if you broke then or they were already broken.
markitude 8:30 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink |
Hey,
Congrats, and great write up. I’ve done a couple of these and I know threading the wire through the hinge takes a bit of finesse. Kudos!
Also if the hinge broke at the “T” – one side or the other, inspect the wire harness for any chafing.
Mark
jay 12:25 am on December 6, 2010 Permalink |
My tablet condition is same as you showed in your firtst image. Just wondering, does hinge has some any screw to tighten the screen?. I want to know if we can tight the screen using some sort of screw (if it has) without replacing whole hinge?
Dorothy Gale 11:15 am on December 14, 2010 Permalink |
I just replaced the hinge on my X61T last night. Thanks to your pictures and the link to Lenovo’s training videos (on which site you have to go to the “FRU Removals” subheading btw, took me a while to find that!), it took me just shy of 2 hours to replace the hinge. Now it’s rock solid again.
So thanks!
Paul 4:56 pm on December 25, 2011 Permalink |
Maybe you could also post a direct link to the training video?
Vanessa 10:33 pm on December 25, 2011 Permalink
I posted a link to the X60 videos. I intentionally didn’t post a direct link to any particular video because I didn’t want anyone to barrel into this effort without knowing what they’re getting into.
Rach 1:02 pm on October 29, 2011 Permalink |
Bought my x61t in 2006 and I had the same issue a few months ago.
Thanks to your post, I’ve been able to fix my laptop.
Cheers
yes!!!! 3:58 pm on January 5, 2012 Permalink |
Thank youuuuu!!! managed to fix the goddam hinge before it snapped in half all together
Odai Jaber 1:43 pm on April 22, 2012 Permalink |
I seriously love you right now! I just replaced my hinge. I used 2 pieces of folded paper to temporarily fix it. Since it is my school computer, I had to wait to replace it on the weekend. It took me about 2 – 2.5 hours to do it. I missed a screw and I somehow broke off the spacebar (damn it!), but oh well. Hinge is good to go atleast! Thanks a lot!
ro6ot 6:51 pm on May 22, 2012 Permalink |
Hi, thanks for this extremely helpful how-to!
I have a question ( FOR ANYBODY with relevant knowledge to chime in on PLEASE!):
My tablet has a broken hinge, but only the tilt ~really, more “holding up”, it tilts TOO well you might say~ function is impaired, the swiveling around function is fine! should I swap out the whole mechanism as you’ve done, or is mine a different issue?
any info much appreciated!
Odai 12:53 pm on May 23, 2012 Permalink |
I say replace it. Get it out of the way because you don’t want anything to happen in the future when you actually need it.
Alex 4:55 am on September 5, 2012 Permalink |
Thanks for your posting! I was able to recognize and fix the problem with your information.
Alex 5:03 am on September 5, 2012 Permalink |
For german users: You can order the part at http://www.mk-electronic.de/items/show/42W3477N
(the FRU has changed to 42W3477N)
zono 11:52 pm on December 4, 2012 Permalink |
hi , your link to gallery is broken . please update . and thank you for post..
Laurence Fox 6:51 pm on December 12, 2012 Permalink |
Just did this for a friend .thanks for help. Horrible job.
Worst laptop I ever worked on. Worse than macs.
inn.ova.tion 7:01 pm on December 18, 2012 Permalink |
My Lenovo X61 is a bit loose too. The rotation is ok but if you give it a little push the screen falls completely backward.
Robert 11:51 pm on May 24, 2013 Permalink |
I just did this repair, but the replacement hinge I got (off ebay) is very stiff. It makes a snapping sound before it starts bending. HAs anyone else had this problem? Is there a way to make it a bit looser? Right now it’s so stiff it can’t even close properly without the latch.
Daniel 9:22 am on September 5, 2014 Permalink |
Mine doesn’t make a cracking sound but it doesn’t close fully with the new hinge. I think that maybe a bit of oil will fix it?
Matthew 9:21 am on September 5, 2014 Permalink |
This took no time foe me. The hinge I bought though made the screen swivel the opposite way then before though.
Wim van der Welle 9:54 am on October 9, 2014 Permalink |
Hello,
The link in your article for the lenovo training video’s nor the link foor your oictures does’n work.
The problem I have is how to unmount the cables which are going through the hinge.
Hop to hear from you,
Kind regards,
Wim van der Welle
Chandramouli 11:50 pm on October 11, 2016 Permalink |
Hi Guys,
Same problem with the hinge need replacement,
where can i order x61 hinge in INDIA.
Thanks,
Chandra